Sufism is the study of the inner mysticism of Islam. There is a Sufi story that describes, for me, the concept “all power comes from within.”

A seeker came to a Sufi teacher with a purse containing hundreds of pieces of gold.

“Do you have more gold than this?” asked the Sufi

“Why yes I do,” answered the seeker.

“Do you desire more?”

“Why yes I do.”

“Well then keep these gold pieces for yourself, for you are more needy than I am. I have nothing yet want for nothing. You have so much yet you still want more.”

This is my re-telling of a story I found in The Way of the Sufi by Idries Shah and was originally from Attar of Nishapur circa 1100 CE. I love the succinct way that the story makes us think not only about value in general but more specifically how content we are with ourselves. The person with all material wealth is discontent while the person with seemingly nothing, really has it all. If we can’t find peace, contentment, happiness within ourselves, we will not find it outside of ourselves.

Our entire economy today is built on the premise that if we can only have more things then we would be happier. Meanwhile people seem to me to be more restless, more unhappy, less connected. Advertisements are not only pervasive in our society but they reflect our entire structure of values which is built upon creating discontent in our external circumstances.

It is our life quest to find our inner power and no one and nothing can take that away.

I am delighted and honored to have been accepted as an alaka’i candidate meaning that I am now training to become a teacher of Huna.

What is Huna? In brief, Huna is a form of Hawaiian shamanism that is taught by Serge Kahili King. Huna means secret, but not the form of a secret that can’t be shared. It is instead esoteric knowledge that is available for everyone but is hard to see or find. In other words, it is the knowledge behind appearances.

Hu means movement in the sense of a fountain rising up and Na is the stillness of the center, a peaceful quiet awareness.

As a newly minted alaka’i candidate I would love to talk about it and share what I’ve learned and how its affected my life. There are so many gems of life in inherent in huna that I am thrilled to do my part in sharing them. In the coming weeks, I will be blogging about the 7 principles of huna (not laws or decrees but principles) so be sure to check it out. Questions welcome!

In October of 2016, I was ordained by Serge Kahili King as an Alaka’i (Hawaiian shaman) on the main island of Hawaii. For more information on events and services please contact me at my e-mail listed below. Put “alaka’i” in the title: